I haven't been attempting any stamping or card making in the last couple of months; I've been spending lots of time watching videos on youtube and reading blogs to look at techniques and products and get ideas about what I like and don't like before I spend too much more money.
One thing I'm trying to work out is colouring - I really like the look of watercoloured images but I also like Copic Coloured images. But Copics are so expensive - in a local store they are $11.00 each, You can find them a little cheaper on the Internet, but still, it will be quite an investment.
So I've been looking at videos of cardmakers using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, particularly Jennifer McGuire's videos and her blog posts. So I decided I'd go ahead and buy some - I could get more "bang for my buck" than Copic's and by buying off eBay from a seller in Japan I could save $100 on the 80 set. So that's what I did.
They arrived late last week. And the very first maker I pulled out to have a play with was a deep magenta colour and the ink flowed quite freely. Well it went downhill after that. I tried a few more and they all were dry. I tried different papers to see if it made much difference but it was like they had all dried up. I didn't want to test too many colours as I thought I would pursue getting a refund. So that's what I did. And thankfully I was able to return the item and get a full refund.
Since doing that and googling I've seen similar comments about dryness on Amazon, and people questioning their validity and whether they got fakes. I didn't mention this to the seller, but when she replied to my refund request (with photos), she said she was surprised as they came direct from the manufacturer, so I can't say whether they were legit or not.
So that was a very disappointing experience. I've now booked in to a Copic Beginner's Class at a local store, so that I can try them before I buy anything. The class is $35 and you get two Copics to take home, so I thought that was a fair amount to pay and less risky than buying some and not being interested.
This is one example of the testing. The creamier card is not watercolour card, but the lighter one is.
